


The Frighthouse

by agentmmayy



Series: promptober [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AoS Promptober, Banter, Decorating, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Halloween decorating, Post-Season/Series 05, Promptober Day 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 12:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20907788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentmmayy/pseuds/agentmmayy
Summary: It's almost Halloween. Phil and Melinda wake up early to decorate the base and maybe sneak in a few pranks as well.





	The Frighthouse

**Author's Note:**

> this is set post-s5 where phil lives and everyone is happy and at the lighthouse because I really wanted some cute family fluff mkay. it also fills Day 3: Halloween Decorating for the AoS Promptober challenge! hope you enjoy!

The rich smell of coffee permeated the Lighthouse halls, for once masking the metal and gun powder residue that clung in the stale air. It was early, too early for coffee, even though in Melinda’s opinion,  _ never  _ was a good time for coffee. Phil, on the other hand, didn’t seem to think so. He was currently half-way through his third cup in the span of half an hour and clearly feeling the effects. She watched as he worked, idly humming under his breath as he went about. 

It had been a hard few months between saving the world, saving Phil, and trying to get Shield back on its feet. They deserved a holiday. Luckily, Halloween was right around the corner. Granted, it was still three weeks away, but it was never too early to decorate. The Lighthouse was already scary with its gloomy gray walls, endless maze of hallways, and rooms that mysteriously echoed when no one was in them. Phil and Melinda were only going to make it more lively. They were going to take the ‘scary’ to the next notch. 

Melinda stared at the large fabric bags sitting at Phil’s feet. There were four, and each was overflowing with decorations. “How much did you buy?"

“It’s a big base,” Phil defended, words distorted from how he held a thumbtack between his lips. He squinted up, shoulders tensing from how he held his arms above his head. “We need all we can get. Can you-?”

Before the strand of garland could fall, Melinda grabbed it. Bracing one hand on the border of the board, Phil plucked the tack from his mouth then pushed it through the strand of garland before into soft corkboard with a triumphant, “Aha!”

Melinda glanced up. Now the announcement board was trimmed with sparkly orange and black garland. Small plastic black cats and smiling jack-o-lanterns stuck out from the decoration, overlapping the few papers attached to the board. Most of them were advertisements for shows in town or positive headlines about Shield clipped from the newspaper. Not much was going on that week, but Agent Calhan was missing his retainers indicated by the lost and found poster below the restaurant coupons.

Phil slapped another black cat cutout onto the bottom corner of the board, turning and holding out a hand to Melinda as he did. Melinda placed another tack in his palm and watched as he jabbed it through the thin cardboard paper. 

“Looks good.”

“It’s so festive!” He exclaimed, half whispering. The Lighthouse was even more echo-y than the Playground, and they had to be quiet not to wake anyone. The step stool wobbled as Phil climbed down, but Melinda’s hand shot out to grab his and steady him. Once he had both feet on the floor, she still didn’t let go of his hand. 

“Okay,” Phil said, a little breathlessly. “That’s another spot to check off on the list.” He sifted through the garland shoved in one of the bags before glancing at Melinda. “I think we might have a little leftover garland for the gym…”

“No.”

They had decorated the gym earlier, much to Melinda’s chagrin. 

_ “You’re not putting anything in my gym.” _

_ “Come on,” Phil begged. “Just a few little skeletons? Daisy always says sparring with you kills her; it’s appropriate.”  _

She caved, mainly from Phil’s puppy eyes and his promise to make pancakes after decorating.

He sighed. “Fine. Bathrooms?”

Now that Melinda was on board with. There were bathrooms on every floor, but the ones that received the most traffic were on the station floor since they were the easiest to reach from the control center. With all the blind spots and corners the bathrooms already provided, it would be not only fun to decorate, but fun to hear others’ reactions. They each took a bathroom. Melinda entered silently, flicking on the light switch. The fluorescent lights came to life with a buzz, and she set out to do her work. 

The first thing she did was take a cut out from the bag and place it right around the corner of the door. They’d agreed on no scary nuns for obvious reasons, so instead, Melinda had an equally frightening one of a woman in a nightgown with long, dark hair covering her face. It would be terrifying to walk into the bathroom and see it there, but that was exactly what Melinda wanted. 

During his shopping spree, Phil bought various kinds of fake bugs. Melinda’s attention zeroed onto the baggie of cockroaches sitting in the assortment. Perfect. Everyone was terrified of bugs- except Simmons- and they were the perfect scare tactic without being too obvious. She planted them around the bathroom, sneaking a few up the soap dispenser, placing one or two on toilet paper rolls, and even taping a few to the walls. With a few more decorations on the mirrors and ceiling, it was finished. 

Melinda left the bathroom just as Phil stepped out of the other one, a gleeful look on his face and the bag he held noticeably half-empty. 

“Whoever finds the bloody Mary film I put on the mirror is going to shit their pants,” he said. “Literally.”

She snorted. “Hopefully, no one shoots the mirror.”

“Hopefully,” Phil agreed. “We’ve already had our share of bad luck and don’t need another seven years of it.” With a sigh, he glanced around the floor. “Since we’re here, we might as well do the station now.”

The station was the main control center of the Lighthouse, where all the mission briefings, missions, and surveillance went down. It was strange to see a place normally crawling with activity desolate. Melinda half expected to see Daisy lounging in one of the chairs munching on cereal, but no one aside from Phil and herself occupied the space. They stepped onto the platform, shoes tapping on the metal floor, and set their bags on one of the desks.

Immediately, Melinda’s attention was grabbed by a monitor that was still on. Whoever sat at it last must have forgotten to turn it off. She reached for the mouse. “What are we doing in here?”

“I was thinking lots of stuff on the rails and posts,” Phil said. “Maybe even put a few things over the monitors. Too bad we didn’t save that alien from the Guest House. That would be a sick decoration.”

“Why?” Melinda asked, half listening as she opened a search engine. “Would the presence of an alien help you to listen to the entire emergency line menu this time?”

“It was a really intense situation! What else did you expect me to do?”

She rolled her eyes. “If you want one, I’m sure we can find an alien in one of the storage rooms here.” It was all too easy to find a scary desktop background and set it. The next person who brought the computer up was in for a surprise. 

“No thanks,” Phil said. “I’ve had enough of exploring this place. I’ll settle with decorating it.” There was a pause. “Though I might need some help doing that.”

When Melinda turned around, she was greeted with Phil tangled in fake spider and cob webs. His arms and hands were bound with the white floss, and some were even stretched over his shoulder. He gave her a sheepish smile, one that made Melinda’s stomach flutter. She reached for the web around his shoulder first, tugging it off. 

“Maybe we should stick you on a post.”

He laughed. “I think we’d need a lot more webs for that.”

She continued to pull at the webs, trying not to tangle Phil up more than he already was. It proved more difficult than expected. “How did you even do this?”

It took a minute or two, but Melinda eventually got him untangled. Phil shook free, running his hands up and down his arms to chase away any remaining threads. “You know,” he said. “I’m surprised we haven’t come across giant spiders yet.”

“Don’t jinx it.” Melinda picked up boxes of lights and pushed them into Phil’s hands with a smirk. “Try not to get tangled in these.”

Somehow he didn’t. Melinda fared better with the cobwebs, hanging them in the corners and on pillars with ease. She stuck the fake spiders on them, suppressing a shudder or two at the hairy legs and beady multiple eyes. Reaching into the bag, Melinda came across a smaller one. She was about to put it on a web when she paused and glanced at Phil. A plan quickly and deviously formed. 

Phil was completely oblivious, too focused on threading jack-o-lantern and ghost fairy lights through the railings to notice Melinda sneaking up behind him. When she was directly behind him, Melinda brought the fake spider to Phil’s back, slowly crawling it up his spine to his shoulders. His reaction was instantaneous. A muffled  _ gah! _ left Phil. He darted away, frantically slapping at his neck and shoulders. Melinda couldn’t hold her laughter back, a few guffaws and quiet chuckles escaping her lips. When Phil’s eyes, wide with fear landed on her, they narrowed. He sighed, hands dropping to his sides. “Very funny.”

“You should have seen that coming.”

“I should have,” he agreed.

It took a while to find an extension cord to connect the fairy lights with, but they eventually came on. Phil insisted on trimming the monitors and flat screens with more garland, and together, they placed a few little skeletons around on the desks. The platform, the surrounding walls and offices, and the balcony were all thoroughly decorated when they were done. 

Phil nodded in satisfaction before turning to Melinda as he grabbed a bag. “How about we do the kitchen next?” he asked, holding up his empty coffee mug. “I need a refill.”

He really didn’t, but Melinda grabbed her bag and followed him out of the station. “You’re going to crash this afternoon.”

“How else am I supposed to stay awake?”

On their way to the kitchen, they passed hallway B. Melinda glanced at the storage room at the far end. It looked untouched. Besides, if anyone had gone in, Melinda would have heard their scream. 

“I still don’t get why you wanted to put something in there,” Phil said. “Hardly anyone goes in there. Though,” he added with a suggestive look. “I guess that’s a good thing.”

She just smiled. “You’ll see.”

Luckily, the kitchen was as barren as the rest of the base. Phil made a beeline over to the coffee machine while Melinda placed the bags on the table rooted through one. From it, she took a dismembered head carefully packed in plastic. At first glance, it looked real, especially with the synthetic blood and other features, but it was fake. It wasn’t an LMD head. That whole situation had been more than horrifying in itself. Instead, this was a head Phil found on eBay. It was definitely the most morbid decoration they had, but it was the only one. The team had seen much worse in their few short years of working together; this, unfortunately, was nothing in comparison. But, the kids needed to laugh. If Melinda snuck a prank or two in, then that was even better.

“Remember when you put that fake dismembered head in mine and Garret’s fridge?”

Melinda snorted. She moved a few items around in the fridge, making a face at a curious smell that she refused to identify. “I heard him scream all the way from the girl’s dormitory. Still can’t believe he fell for it.”

“Me too, especially after your head in a jar prank the year before.” 

“It’s a classic,” she said and set the head on a shelf right behind the milk. “Besides, this year, we’ll hear  _ Fitz  _ scream when he finds it.” 

The severed head was the only stomach-churning decoration they used there. After all, they didn’t want too many agents to lose their appetites, especially not in the kitchen. A film with a cartoon witch went on the oven window. A plastic bubbling cauldron was placed by the stove.  Pumpkins were set on the table with the promises of being carved later in the week. Melinda allowed the decorative towels but stopped Phil from switching out the soap and mats.

Phil refilled his coffee for the second time and took a seat at the kitchen table, watching Melinda set up a jump scare contraption in one of the cabinets. 

She glanced over to him. “Taking a break?”

“We’ve been at this for-” He checked his watch. “Almost two hours. I deserve one. So do you.”

Melinda only hummed. She was starting to feel the effects of getting up at one in the morning with only a protein bar and tea to fuel her, but there was no better time to sneak around the base and decorate. In a handful of seconds, Melinda finished placing the scare and stepped back. She closed the cabinet door then opened it, not flinching when the little plastic ghost flew out of the box toward her. As she stepped to the table, Phil took her hand and tugged her onto his lap. 

She went more than willingly, sinking against his chest and sighed in content as Phil wrapped his arms around her waist. “Time for my break?”

“Yep.” He pressed a kiss to the base of her neck before settling his chin on her shoulder. Phil studied the area of the kitchen in front of them. “It looks perfect.”

It did look pretty good. A little less scary than what Melinda was aiming for, but the rest of the base would make up for it. 

Phil’s lips found her neck again, innocently laying kisses on the sliver of skin exposed by the drooping neckline of Melinda’s (Phil’s) sweatshirt. Melinda leaned into him, tilting her neck invitingly and bit back a whimper when Phil kissed up to right below her ear. When he went for her mouth, she turned her head. 

“Mm.” Melinda pushed at his chest. “I don’t kiss people with coffee breath.”

“People?” Phil asked, fake-wounded. “Not just me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just you.”

He gave her a wide grin that reached his eyes, making them crinkle at the edges. But there was something else in them, a glint of mischief that Melinda didn’t recognize until it was too late. Faster than she could react, Phil snuck a kiss to the corner of her mouth. The coffee he had on his lips was now on hers. Melinda glared and wiped at her mouth as Phil laughed. 

The last place they had to decorate was the bunk hallway, specifically their team’s respective doors. Phil and Melinda quietly crept down the hall. They stopped at Mack and Elena’s door first, pinning up some of the remaining garland around the frame before mounting a plastic axe with a red paint coated blade that Phil was extremely proud of for purchasing. A few feet down was the bunk that Fitz and Jemma shared. Melinda set to putting the garland up though it was much harder with only two hands and minus the five inches Phil had on her. 

“Need help?” Phil’s question was thinly veiled with amusement. 

She sent him a glare. “Shut up.” 

It took standing on her toes and a few mortifying hops, but soon, the garland was up. The part directly above the doorway drooped down, but it was fine. 

“Mel,” Phil whispered. “Look!”

Melinda turned around to see Phil with a paper skeleton held together with brass fasteners at the joints. With a smile, he waved the skeleton’s arm. It looked too flimsy to be bought in one piece, and there were a few minuscule rips on the ribcage. 

“Did you put that together yourself?” she asked. 

He nodded. “Yeah, earlier. All the plastic ones they had in the store looked bad. And I thought Simmons could label this one better.”

“She’ll enjoy that.”

“He’s kind of a flimsy guy,” Phil commented as he taped the head of the skeleton to the bunk door, rolling tape and placing it on the rest of the bones as well. “She has a full-sized skeleton in her lab, but I’m not entirely sure if it belonged to someone else first if you know what I mean.”

“Frank?” Melinda asked. “The one in the lab coat?”

“She has  _ more than one _ ?” Phil hissed. 

They fell silent at a quiet shuffle on the other side of the door. Melinda and Phil were tense, ready to run if either Jemma or Fitz appeared at the door. But seconds passed, and no one came. Melinda relaxed and sent Phil a glare. “Don’t wake them up.”

He scoffed. “It’s not as if they could hear anything over Fitz’s snoring.”

Carefully, they tacked the paper skeleton up. Melinda stopped Phil from putting it in any poses. The kids would have their fun changing up the skeleton’s position. She looked forward to all the ones, including crude, poses they would come up with. When Phil finished sticking the left foot on for the second time, he stepped back. Hands on his hips, he studied the door. 

“You think we should put something on the top?”

“No,” Melinda said. “He’ll get scared enough at the head in the fridge.”

Last but not least, they headed to Daisy’s bunk door. It was nearly four-thirty. Melinda knew she would be waking up soon if she wasn’t awake already. Daisy could sleep an entire day away if she wanted to, but after years of being conditioned to wake at 5, it was a habit she couldn’t break. They worked quickly. Phil put up the garland that time though they ran out three-quarters of the way, so on one side of the door, instead of going all the way to the floor, the garland hung half-way down the wall. Daisy could do with a jump scare, they decided. So, Melinda carefully set up a cloth ghost at the top of the door to come down when it opened. 

“How much you want to bet she’ll scream?” Phil asked. 

“That’s if she doesn’t quake it.”

Next, Phil brought out a large roll of crime scene tape that they stretched in various directions over Daisy’s bunk door. Soon the gray was nearly masked with bright yellow lines and bold black lettering saying ‘crime scene do not cross.’

“Get it?” Phil asked lowly. “Because it always looks like a crime scene in there.” 

From the other side of the door came Daisy’s voice. “I can hear you, you know.”

“You heard nothing,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

“What are you guys doing?”

“Goodnight, Daisy.”

There was a long-suffering sigh before Daisy said, “Fine.” Then came a sleepy, “Love you.”

Melinda softened. “Love you too.”

There was a rustle before Daisy fell silent. Phil and Melinda grabbed up the now-empty bags and made their way down the hallway hand in hand. Now the Lighthouse was beginning to wake up with the rest of the agents that were early risers. The familiar sounds of the morning made the decorated base seem less eerie and more warm with a sense of home that they were still getting used to. 

“You know,” Phil began. “Sleep doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

Melinda glanced at him, incredulously. “All that caffeine wearing off already?”

He shrugged then winked. “That or it’s just an excuse to lay in bed with you.”

“You don’t need an excuse for that. And you still owe me pancakes.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Phil said. “I’ll make them after we put everything away. How does pumpkin chocolate chip sound?”

“Festive.”

A shrill scream interrupted them. At first, Melinda and Phil tensed, ready to find the source and see what was going on. Then, they realized the scream came from hallway B and relaxed. A satisfied expression, one Phil always saw when Melinda successfully pulled a prank appeared on her face. 

Phil laughed and pulled Melinda close to kiss her temple. “Sounds like your closet trick worked.”

As they walked to their bunk, Melinda thought about the scare she set up in their own closet. “Mhm.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
